Sudden Relation

Chapter Nine: the Beginning

Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children. ~Charles R. Swindoll

She was stressed out – way more stressed than she had been in a while. Ever since she and Snape had gotten into that argument over winter break their weekly practices had been canceled and she'd been left trying to find another way to beef up her magical muscles. She managed to get some help from the DA meetings, but it wasn't quite the same. As much as she hated to admit it Snape knew a thing or two about defensive and offensive spells alike.

Noel sighed softly as she ran her fingers through her oily black hair – she needed to take a shower or else she'd start to look like Snape with his greasy face. Noel paused and glanced up at the few strands of hair she could see – she needed to touch up her dye soon. She could probably just charm it, but with all the magic going around it was more likely to be disturbed.

"Me thinks it's time for a change." Noel said suddenly, surging to her feet and heading to the trunk at the foot of her bed, leaving her books open and scattered across the bed. She had been trying to focus on her Charms homework, but she was too distracted at this point. This would keep her occupied for a while…hopefully.

She smiled as she found a lone package of blonde muggle dye – she always kept one handy, never quite sure when she would want to have her old hair color back. She was lucky she had very generic blond hair so even after her roots grew out more it wouldn't be too obvious.

"What are you doing?" Marietta Edgecomb asked as she entered the dorm, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. Noel frowned anxiously – this bitch had trouble written all over her.

"Just going to dye my hair." She said truthfully, "Nothing wrong with that."

"That's muggle dye!" Marietta gasped dramatically, "That's got all sorts of chemicals in it. You'll ruin your hair that way!"

"Well then I guess I'll shave it all off, then, won't I?" Noel joked, but Marietta wasn't amused – in fact she looked horrified. Noel rolled her eyes.

"Whatever, look, do what you meant to do up here, I don't care – I'm heading to the bathroom." She said, straightening and snapping her trunk closed before turning and entering the large restroom, stopping at her own drawer to grab out the rest of her supplies, her hand hovering over a light purple potion.

"Marietta? Did you grab your potions book?" Cho's voice echoed from the dorm, and Noel started and slammed the drawer shut again, turning to the mirror to begin the long arduous task ahead of her – but she was being melodramatic again. At least this proved to be a good use for her time turner.

An hour later she walked into Divination with her head held high and formerly black hair colored a bright honey blonde – people had to look twice before the realized it was her.

"Noel?" Harry gaped in surprise – he was the first to notice the change. Ron took one look at her and almost dropped his teacup, his mouth gaping open and stuttering incoherently. Jason looked at her and her heart contracted when she saw the attraction that still lingered there. Poor guy – she really shouldn't have done that to him.

Her attention was diverted though when she spotted Draco leaning back in his chair cockily, letting his eyes roam up her body and a confident smirk on his face. Her heart rate picked up and she quirked an eyebrow at him, making his eyes gleam. She knew why she was so attracted to him – he had a great bod, and believe it or not he could actually be rather entertaining. He was just a total snob and a racist, but that didn't bother her too much – they didn't do much talking anyway.

She took her seat and smiled kindly at Jason. "Hey." She greeted pleasantly.

"Hey. Any new dreams for me to decode?" he asked calmly, showing no sign of hurt or anger. They still got on, and their teamwork on the team was still close to flawless. Jason wasn't the type of guy to let emotions get in the way of something he wanted – maybe that's why she didn't stay faithful to him? She needed a guy with fire and Jason wasn't really that.

"Nah, been havin' dreamless nights for the past week or so." Noel lied with a smile, "How about you? Not that I could get very far, mind you, but at least I could give it a shot."

"Nothing interesting, it's all been about Quidditch and you." He winked flirtatiously and Noel laughed, rolling her eyes at him.

"I'm flattered, Samuels, but I'm sure that I was beating you off your broom." Noel retorted. He winked and Noel realized how what she said sounded.

"Oh, you can beat me off any time." He joked. Noel halfheartedly threw a quill at him, but laughed pleasantly enough. This was good – as long as things stayed like this she wouldn't feel so bad.

She blinked in surprise as she felt a piece of parchment rub against her hand and looked down to see a small note floating innocently beside her. She carefully opened and read it, feeling a heat build up behind her cheeks as she did. She didn't look over at the sender, knowing it would be suspicious – he didn't want their little fling to be known by anyone else either. Instead she carefully folded it back up and slid it into her textbook, knowing he was watching her closely for her reaction. She wouldn't give him that pleasure though – she liked to make people work for it.

She opened her mouth to talk to Jason some more when Trelawney burst in and began talking so briskly that Noel barely knew what was going on. But then she spotted Umbridge sitting ramrod straight in the corner, and Noel knew all too well what was going on.

"God, kill me now." She murmured as Trelawney announced Umbridge's duty to supervise Divination from now on, "Grab a knife and just shove it through my chest, please."

Jason frowned in understanding, "I would, but I don't want to stain my robes." He managed to joke. Noel groaned and let her head fall against the table.

This was going to be a long, long class.

"What's with the hair?" Draco asked curiously as he cornered her after class, leaving barely two inches in between their bodies, "Decided blonde was more your taste?"

"You wish." Noel retorted, not moving back and not giving him a sign that he phased her in any way, "Just thought it was time for a change. That and daddy dearest might flip his lid – that alone would be worth money."

"What is it with you and Snape?" Draco asked suddenly, bracing his hand on the wall over her head, "Why don't you get along?"

"Uh uh, now way, we aren't doing this, blondie." Noel countered, shaking her head, "You know what this is – you don't get to flip through my personal life."

"But I do get to pry open your legs?" Draco retorted. Noel quirked a brow.

"Only if you're a good little boy and does what mummy tells you to do." She said condescendingly. He sneered and pressed closer to her, backing her up against the wall and trapping her where she was.

"Oh, you know I'm good." He growled in her ear, "Or do I have to remind you?"

"I think my memory's just fine, thank you." She said with a smile, "you know what this is about, Draco – don't try me. You get too attached or some rot like that then I'll go find someone else. Don't think you're special."

"Please – like anyone else would have the guts to sleep with Snape's only daughter." Draco laughed, "You'll never find a replacement for me."

"Keep telling yourself that – I can have any guy I want wrapped around my fingers in an instant." Noel retorted cockily, smirking slightly.

"You don't have me." Draco countered. Noel smiled, a little gleam popping up into her eye.

"You're here, aren't you?" she asked. She saw the puzzlement enter his eyes and knew she had to distract him fast, or else he'd start pouting and harrumph off to go regain his manliness, and as amazingly violent the sex would be after, she wanted a little somethin' somethin' now

As she slammed her lips against his, she wondered how long this could go on before he realized that she was the one using him – not the other way around.

They were both late when they were finished, but Noel had the luxury of a time turner. So she wouldn't miss Charms, but she would still be a bit late to Arithmancy – she would start overlapping herself if she turned the clock back two hours just to be on time, and that was risky. A small part of her said that she was abusing the privilege given too her, but another, larger part of her didn't care. As she walked in to Arithmancy Hermione sent her a curious look, but otherwise said nothing and returned to her work. Noel shrugged to herself – Hermione was nice enough, but a bit odd.

As she took her seat and quickly caught up with the lesson she wondered if Trelawney would last much longer with Umbridge breathing over her shoulder.

.

Noel was out much later than she should be. By all means she should be tucked nice and warm in her bed, snoozing the night away, but she couldn't. She was restless, and part of her knew what she needed, but the other part denied herself. She couldn't get back into that – no siree. She found herself in the dungeons before she even realized it, and started in surprise as Harry came bursting out of a door she knew led to Snape's personal office, seat staining his shirt and his forehead. She grimaced.

"You okay?" she asked as he took in deep, ragged breaths.

"You fathers an arse." He said before he could completely register what he was saying. His eyes widened and he glanced nervously at her, afraid he'd offended her or something, but Noel just smiled.

"You don't have to tell me that." Noel said, "Come on, I'll walk you back to Gryffindor. Unless you wanna head somewhere else?"

"I just wanna go to bed." He admitted. Noel nodded and waited for him to gather himself more before they both began the long ascent to the seventh floor.

"Why did you dye your hair?" Harry finally asked, glancing at her nervously. She tried not to laugh – he really was like a nervous Chihuahua sometimes, like everything he said would garner a punch in the face.

"I felt like I needed a little change in my life." Noel said pleasantly, "I keep hearing I look like Snape, and I'm sick of it."

"Does that mean you had to dye your hair though?" he asked, "Was it really that bad?"

"I like being myself, not my father." Noel explained, absently toying with a curl, "I dyed my hair before I came to England because I wanted a change. Then I realized how much I look like my father whenever I do that, and I hate the bastard. So I dyed it back to my natural color."

"That explains it." Harry said, grinning wryly. At first Noel didn't quite get it, but when she did she gasped and hit his shoulder before laughing.

"You just made a dumb blonde joke!" she said, "Aw, little Harry's all grown up."

"Shut up." He said with a blush as she ruffled his hair, "I'm the same age as you, you know."

"So?" Noel asked with a shrug, "I do what I want."

"That might be why you and Snape don't get along." Harry observed, "You aren't afraid of him – in fact, you try to stick it to him whenever you can."

"He's got a bad attitude." Noel said with a shrug, "I don't know much why, and I don't much care. He needs to live a little, he's to wound up over this."

"This?" Harry asked. Noel shrugged.

"This. Life. Living. He takes it too seriously." She explained, "See, what I learned is, you never know when you're gonna die. You can do whatever you want to stop it, but death always finds away to get yah. You can hide all you want, cheat him all you want, but in the end you'll lose. Its better to greet death as an old friend than as an enemy. It makes the after life that much easier on you."

There was a long stretch of silence between the two, and it lasted until they reached the familiar portrait of a snoozing Fat Lady.

"This is where I leave you." Noel said calmly, "I'll see you around."

"When did you get so wise?" Harry asked finally, "You don't act it. Half the time you're breaking the rules and not giving a rats arse. No offense but I never expected you to actually be deep."

Noel smiled, a sad image that piqued Harry's curiosity, "When you've lived through what I have, you kinda have to start thinking like this. At the same time, you gotta know when to stop. Otherwise you go you whole life only to realize that you never truly lived."

Noel turned and headed away from the portrait, pausing to call a quick "Goodnight, Harry" over her shoulder. She listened as he tried to wake up the portrait, but she was already around the corner and she never knew if he got in or not. Instead, she headed down a familiar corridor and to the tapestry of the dancing trolls. The image it presented always made her smile, and when she stood to face the wall a bland door was always sitting there, waiting for her.

She entered and smile as a very familiar room surrounded her. All around her there were stray images, some on posters and others on small slips of parchment. In the center was a large easel supporting an even larger background. As she got closer she could see the familiar pencil marks that scoped out her vision, and she felt a sense of pride as she observed the clean lines.

She wasn't amazing – no, she was far from that. Her images would never hang in a museum or grace the halls of Hogwarts. They were doomed to stay locked away in this room forever, never to see the light of day. And she liked it that way.

This was her when she was at her best, mentally and physically. Here she didn't think of Snape, Malfoy, Jason, or Umbridge. Here she only thought of the spiraling images that almost always assaulted her mind. Here she could stand to like herself, at least a little bit. She turned away from her "masterpiece" and instead focused on one of her small artworks. It was a conglomeration of different materials, from fabrics to plastics to buttons. It was more abstract than she usually liked, but she enjoyed making shapes from nothing, and today she needed to create, not mimic.

With a peaceful expression she picked up her exacto knife and began to work.

Two days later she was still running on an art induced high when she caught sight of the daily prophet and her heart began to sink faster than the titanic.

"What's wrong?" Faith asked curiously, taking a bite of her apple.

"There's been a mass break out from Azkaban." She said solemnly. Faith shook her head.

"Impossible – you can't just break out of Azkaban." She denied.

"It's all right here." Noel said reluctantly, moving aside her food and flattening the Daily Prophet out for her to read, the dark headline blaring out against the tanned parchment.

MASS BREAKOUT FROM AZKABAN
MINISTRY FEARS BLACK IS "RALLYING POINT"
FOR OLD DEATH EATERS

Noel shook her head, but by now the Ministry's attempts at feeling in control were rather ineffective on her at this point. She scanned through the article while Faith practically devoured every last word on the page.

"I still can't believe they haven't amped up the attempt to get Black." She commented, shaking her head, "It's causing all sorts of problems. I mean, even I've heard of Bellatrix – she's bad news."

Noel bit down on her lip to keep from defending Sirius, and she just hummed in response as she scanned the rest of the paper. Maybe something good would make her day a little less doomed? Instead she only found more things that pointed to discord in the ministry.

"There's been another ministry related death." She said in disappointment, "Broderick Bode. He was strangled in his sleep by some plant left as a gift."

"I think you're ignoring the big picture here." Faith said, quirking an eyebrow, "we aren't just talking about one Death Eater breaking out of Azkaban – we're talking about ten. One freak accident is kinda irrelevant right now."

Noel bit her tongue and turned her attention back to the newspaper. She hated that Faith had to be so blind about the situation, but Faith really had no ties into this at all – Hell, Noel didn't have a huge claim on the situation either. All she was to this situation was Severus Snape's illegitimate child who decided to come to visit at the wrong time and got drawn in. She knew nothing about Sirius, nothing about Potter, nothing about Voldemort, and nothing about her own father. She was just a bystander who knew things that she shouldn't, and learned things she wished she never had.

She sighed and folded up the Prophet, pushing it aside to take a long, slow drink of her Pumpkin Juice. She really wished that she hadn't gotten up this morning. The way things were starting, it would be much more productive for her to just go to sleep.

"Hey Black!" Davies called as she walked out of the Great Hall. Noel blinked in surprise and turned to watch the large 7th year amble towards her, a charming smile on her face. Noel paused patiently as he caught up and began walking with her. "Um, you're going to Hogsmeade on Valentines, right?"

"Well I hadn't really thought about it." She answered truthfully, "I assume you're going to ask me if I want to go."

"Well, actually, yeah." He said cockily, "I mean, you wanna?"

Noel was about to turn him down when she remembered how fit he was underneath those robes – not that she knew personally, but from all the rumors it was definitely a sight worth seeing. Besides, she didn't want to get stuck alone on Valentines day – no one wanted that.

"Sure." She agreed, pressing her hair behind her ear, "Sounds like it could be fun."

He smirked, almost as if he knew she would say yes, and that was immediately making her doubt her decision. She didn't date cocky, she didn't like it, and she didn't deal with it. If this was a thing that would get serious, and that was a big if here, then she would have to tone the cockiness down a few notches. And by a few, she meant a hundred.

"Where do you wanna go?" He asked, "I mean, I'm cool with anywhere-"

"Surprise me." She interrupted, "Wherever works out the best."

He seemed shocked with her answer, but his smug smile showed how pleased he was. Noel had a feeling that he had a plan, but she didn't really care a this point – worst comes to worst then she would bump him and dump him the continue on doing whatever worked best with her.

As he walked away she realized that his interest was just another beacon of doom – where other girls might have felt lightened and excited, Noel could only feel a slow fear start to gnaw at her gut. The shit was about to hit the fan, and she didn't want to be around when it did.

Maybe it was time for her to hit the road before the road got blocked.